GOP rep flees down stairs to escape questions on his support for alleged child molester

Who had a worse day yesterday — Alabama Republican Roy Moore, who remains besieged by allegations he molested minors, or Alabama Republican Mo Brooks, who keeps trying to support Moore’s floundering candidacy for the U.S. Senate?

Brooks managed to create not one but two blunders on Tuesday in his effort to boost Moore. The first came when Brooks announced that passing a tax bill for billionaires was “vastly” more important than dealing with the question of whether a future U.S. senator once sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl. The comment was widely seen as being obtuse and insensitive.

Then Tuesday night, ABC News posted a video of reporter Tom Llamas chasing Brooks down a circular marble staircase, trying to get him to answer a couple simple questions:

"Do you believe Roy Moore over the women?" Llamas asked Moore, who refused to break stride or even stop and face the reporter.

"I believe that the Democrats will do great damage to our country," Brooks said. "So you still believe Roy Moore?" Llamas continued. Brooks responded by repeating his line about Democrats.

Note that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he believes the women and that Moore should get out of the race. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the former Alabama senator whose seat Moore is trying to fill, told members of the House on Tuesday that he has no reason to doubt the Republican’s accusers.

And even Sean Hannity started jumping ship Tuesday night, announcing on Fox News that Moore has 24 hours to address the discrepancies in his stories. Hannity’s moral compass may have been nudged by the advertising boycott that his engulfed his show, following his initial support of Moore.

In response to questions about Moore, Brooks did send an email to a local Alabama newspaper on Tuesday. "As an attorney, I know accusations are easy. Proving them to the satisfaction of a judge, a jury, or here, voters, is another thing. I do not know enough of the evidence to know with confidence what the true facts are," he said.

But of course this isn’t a criminal case. Moore isn’t on trial and there is no legal jury. He’s running for public office and people are being asked to judge the man’s character in light of the fact that five women have come forward to say he sexually pursued or assaulted them when they were teens and he was in his 30s.

Brooks then suggested the accusers are lying for partisan reasons. "I do believe this, there are millions of people in America who would lie in a heartbeat if it meant adding another Democrat to the Senate," he said.

But several of Moore’s accusers are Republicans who voted for Donald Trump last year.

The congressman’s pathetic performance on Tuesday wasn’t a big surprise, since he’s known for his outlandish behavior and beliefs. He once claimed Obamacare should be repealed because people getting affordable coverage do not “lead good lives,” and later ran an incendiary campaign ad blaming Bernie Sanders for the congressional baseball game shooting. He was removed from the Alabama Supreme Court twice for defying court orders.

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